Former Republican Vice President Mike Pence is set to enter the race to get party nomination to run for president in US Presidential Elections 2024, reported Reuters citing two unnamed sources. According to the report, Pence will launch his campaign with a video and a speech in Iowa, an early nominating state.
Pence is a staunch social conservative. He was vice president during the tenure of former US president Donald Trump. Pence stood by Trump during his time in the office.
However, he has increasingly distanced himself from Trump after the latter’s defeat in US Presidential Election 2020. Pence has maintained that Trump’s encouragement of Capitol Hill rioters on January 6, 2021 put him and his family in danger.
Trump has already declared that he would seek to become president in 2024. Currently, he has a huge polling lead in a Republican field which now has six declared candidates. It is being believed that such a scenario is likely to splinter opposition to Trump.
According to RealClearPolitics average of polls, Pence’s polling average in the Republican field is less than 4 per cent as of June 1. Trump on the other hand, averages at 53 per cent.
Pence, although embracing many of Trump’s policies, has chosen to portray himself as an even-keeled and consensus-oriented alternative.
He has also appealed more directly to the evangelical Christian community, having spent significant time in recent months touring mega-churches across the country.
The success of Pence’s campaign will depend on how well he can attract supporters of Trump’s policies who are put off by the former president’s behaviour and rhetoric.
Pence – a former governor of Indiana and a one-time party leader in the U.S. House of Representatives – will also test voters’ appetite for an establishment Republican in a party where voters have increasingly turned to outsiders.
(With inputs from agencies)
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